Chapter 794: Basement
Basement
Dense vines covered the building’s surface. Lin Ye circled the structure before finding the entrance.
The building’s entrance was a metal door completely blocked by plants. Lin Ye used the kitchen knife to cut away some of the vegetation, barely managing to open a gap.
Inside, the building was pitch black, carrying a stale, musty odor.
The three of them squeezed through the gap one by one. With the faint light from outside, Lin Ye could just barely make out his surroundings.
This seemed to be an abandoned, sealed-off building—still in rough, unfinished condition with no signs of renovation.
In the center of the first floor sat a crude, shabby generator. Lin Ye pressed the switch, and dim lights flickered to life throughout the building.
“This thing still works?”
Lin Ye checked the generator’s condition. Though he hadn’t used one much, he often crafted spiritual energy items. As long as the structure wasn’t too complex, he could at least understand it.
“Great! There’s a lot of food stored here!”
Eura pulled open the trapdoor leading to the basement. Below was a small storage room with shelves stocked with survival supplies.
“Is there any backup fuel inside?”
The generator ran on a liquid similar to diesel, and the fuel tank was nearly empty. If they couldn’t refuel soon, the lighting system would only last another hour at most.
“No, just food, water, and some tools.”
Little Guardian had also entered the basement, cataloging the supplies.
“I’ll take a look upstairs. You two be careful.”
Lin Ye climbed the railing-less staircase to the second floor. The second floor was much like the first—also unfinished—but without a generator. In the center of the floor lay a shriveled corpse.
‘I knew something was off here.’
Lin Ye approached the corpse. He noticed it was reduced to nothing but a layer of skin, its insides completely drained dry.
On the body was a simple hand-drawn map. Lin Ye unfolded it and glanced over it—it seemed to be a map of a forest, but he didn’t recognize any of the terrain.
Beside the corpse’s hand was a small container. Lin Ye opened the lid and found generator fuel inside.
The container was only half full. Lin Ye wasn’t sure if it would be enough to get them through the night.
He went up a few more floors, but all of them were empty. Considering Eura and Little Guardian had almost no combat ability, he only climbed to the seventh floor before heading back down to the bottom level.
“I found some fuel. If I tweak the electrical system here, we should make it through the night.”
Lin Ye entered the basement and picked out some tools to modify the power setup.
He planned to keep only the basement lighting running and move the generator down there.
The basement had plenty of space for them to spend the night.
In just a few minutes, Lin Ye had reconfigured the lighting system. And if necessary, he could easily restore it to its original state.
Eura and Little Guardian helped him carry the generator into the basement. Outside, it was now completely dark. Lin Ye closed the building’s entrance.
The only light in the entire building came from the basement. Just as Lin Ye was about to head inside, he heard the sound of a door opening behind him.
He didn’t look back. Instead, he entered the basement and shut the trapdoor.
“I think I heard footsteps outside.”
Eura looked at Lin Ye as he came down, her voice tinged with worry.
“No, that’s just your imagination.”
Lin Ye hadn’t heard footsteps… but he had heard plenty of strange noises.
“Let’s eat something. I’m a bit hungry too.”
Little Guardian opened a can. The label had pictures of beans and greens on it.
“…Maybe I misheard.”
Eura opened a can too—it contained a salty meat broth.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Something knocked on the basement trapdoor.
“You can heat it up. There’s a cooking pot over there.”
Lin Ye didn’t know what was up there. Whatever it was, it had probably killed the person on the second floor.
“Forget it, we can eat it cold.”
Little Guardian didn’t want to waste fuel. If they couldn’t find the forest exit tomorrow, they might have to stay here a while longer.
“You can set the can on the generator. At least it won’t be freezing.”
Lin Ye didn’t eat any of the basement’s food. That gem was more filling than he’d expected. And if he got hungry, he could always eat wild vegetables and weeds—he didn’t need to consume normal supplies.
While they talked, the thing above kept knocking on the trapdoor in a steady rhythm.
Lin Ye memorized the pattern. It seemed like some kind of complex Morse code.
The trapdoor wasn’t locked. A normal person would have already opened it and come in. This felt more like a trap meant to lure them over.
Little Guardian forced down the mixture of vegetables and beans with a sour expression. She normally didn’t need to eat, and for her, this was a terrible experience.
After drinking the salty broth, Eura’s throat felt scratchy. She drank half a bottle of mineral water before feeling better.
They’d gotten used to the knocking from above. Whatever it was, it couldn’t seem to get in.
Lin Ye carefully inspected every corner of the basement before lying down, staring at the trapdoor. The kitchen knife lay within arm’s reach—if anything burst in, he could act immediately.
For the night, Eura and Little Guardian would take the first watch, and Lin Ye the second. Right now, they were all ordinary humans and needed some rest.
No sooner had Lin Ye closed his eyes than the knocking above suddenly stopped.
The basement fell silent, save for the generator’s hum. Instead of putting them at ease, the quiet made them uneasy.
Like the calm before a storm.
“Did it leave?”
Eura stared at the trapdoor, unable to look away.
“Of course not. If it were the type to give up easily, it wouldn’t have knocked for so long.”
Lin Ye didn’t keep his eyes on the trapdoor. Instead, he got up and scanned the room. In the corner of the basement, he spotted a patch of shadow that seemed a bit denser than the rest.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Lin Ye hurled the kitchen knife at that shadow.
The blade struck home. The shadow let out a piercing shriek.
It was a black insect. Its outer shell looked almost identical to the shadows around it. Even pinned to the ground, it writhed like a squirming patch of darkness.
Lin Ye hadn’t even been sure what it was—he’d only thrown the knife because something felt off about that spot.
He didn’t approach the twitching patch. Instead, he grabbed a screwdriver and flung it at the insect’s head.
The screwdriver pierced the creature’s skull with precision. It thrashed a few more times before going completely still.
Lin Ye didn’t examine the insect’s body. Instead, he carefully checked the basement once more to make sure there were no other bugs.